63 - video;

[islandshore]

[It's that time of year again, network. The time when two island doofuses set the stage for the ultimate bet of all time. A matter of life and death, of... okay, so maybe nothing that extreme. Still, here we have Riku, dressed in a black jacket and a scarf, looking slightly. So, right. He should probably get the ball rolling, but first, he turns to look at Sora and Kairi.]

You guys ready for this?

[ third year. it's officially a tradition. Sora? he's bouncy. two year victor here. he's pretty confident this streak is going to last. ]

I dunno... Are you ready to lose again, Riku?

[See that? That would be Riku slapping his face with his palm.]

Don't get ahead of yourself. A lot can change in a year.

[Not that he particularly feels invested by now, but it is tradition, and he can't ever turn down a challenge.

The camera pans down to Kairi, the lovely host for this little wager. She grips a pair of clip-on antlers in her hand, disappointed that she couldn't convince Riku to wear them. She will, however, make sure he at least ends the night with the glowing red nose.]

Hey everyone! It's time for us to see which one of these two is the bigger dork.

[Wait that's not it.]

We're looking to see who believes in Santa! If you don't know Santa, he's the big guy who flies around the world with his magic reindeer delivering presents to all the good boys and girls.

[And the fluffy red hat atop her head should make it easy to see what team she's on.]

Old Man Riku is such a stick-in-the-mud that he doesn't believe in magic presents anymore, so Sora wants to prove him wrong. Whoever loses gets to show off their "Christmas Spirit" for everyone to see, so make sure you all vote!

[Riku rolls his eyes, flicking Sora's shoulder.]

Hey, if I'm old, so's he. But anyway, consider this our Christmas tradition. So... place your bets. We'll see who ends up singing their heart out this time...

Pfft. Coming from the guy with white hair? I'm not so sure that you're not old... Foofyku.

[ Sora snickers, escaping to stand by Kairi and throws a friendly arm around her shoulders. ]

Just remember this, guys... Voting on Riku's side means you have to hear me and Kairi sing and do you really wanna have to put people through that?

[Riku smirks.]

Hey, we gotta shake it up somehow. Besides, Sora's gonna need a decent backup singer, otherwise it'd just be painful.

[The feed ends with Sora pouting and sticking out his tongue.]

Comments

[Video]

[dressofheaven]

Kairi, you aren't allowed to sing in public until I've had the chance to give you some lessons.

[This is clearly the important part of all this. You are not embarrassing yourself when you have a perfectly good singer right next to you to give you pointers, girl!

But as for the original question...]

As for Father Christmas, did you know according to my home country's folklore, he had an evil counterpart named Krampus who would put naughty children in his sack and take them away to do unspeakable things to them?

[Ilya. It's totally an actual myth though.]

[Video]

[heartdive]

You're not serious. That person's not a real thing, right?

[dressofheaven]

As real as Santa Claus himself.

[Do you really want her voting for you now, Sora?]

[heartdive]

...Are you sure?

[Video]

[islandshore]

...There's an evil santa.

[It's said with the driest of tones.]

And you're sure you're not making that up?

[dressofheaven]

Well, someone has to punish the bad children. Or did you really think they just got off with a bit of coal?

[She's grinning widely, enjoying this entirely too much.]

They say he has great big horns, cloven hoof feet, and the face of a goat. Did you know, Riku, that goats will eat anything?

[islandshore]

Sounds more like a demon than Santa's evil twin.

[He's still staring because... geez, that's. Um. Wow, talk about a crazy story.]

And I've heard goats will eat a lot, but anything? That's gotta be an exaggeration.

[paopuprincess]

I never agreed to this!

[dressofheaven]

[Annnnd pout.] I'm trying to help you! Besides, you've already heard me sing, so you should know full well it's a good idea.

[paopuprincess]

[Sob Ilya you're supposed to be on her side.]

I'm pretty sure my voice makes cats cry.

[islandshore]

Aw, c'mon. I doubt you're as bad as you think.

[Better than Sora, anyway. Heh.]

[paopuprincess]

I don't think, I know.

[heartdive]

Yes you did. Don't try to get out of this, Kairi.

[video]

[captainash]

...So, are we allowed to vote against whoever we think will offer the best performance, or do we need to be honest?

[Because that might greatly influence his answer.]

[video]

[paopuprincess]

Kinda makes you wish you could torture them both, huh?

[video]

[captainash]

Almost. Will they sing a duet if this somehow ends in a draw? Because I can help bribe voters for balanced results if you want.

[paopuprincess]

I like the way you think.

[video]

[heartdive]

Hey! No cheating!

[video]

[islandshore]

Kinda goes against the spirit of the bet if you do that, but if you hadn't said anything, I don't think we would've suspected it.

[Still, he doesn't sound too worried. Not yet, anyway.]

[video]

[captainash]

So I've ruined my grand plan with my idle musings? That's a shame. Maybe I should have bounced the idea off my Pokémon instead.

[Video]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[It sort of feels like she's going to rain on the parade....]

....What if I said I didn't believe in Santa back home?

[Video]

[islandshore]

That'd probably count in my favor. But are you saying you'd believe in him here?

[He guesses it makes sense. There is evidence pointing to his possible, if not probable existence.]

[Video]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

....I don't know. Frankly, there's a lot of stuff here that doesn't make sense. But, maybe that means that Santa is real here.

[She shook her head.] But, I don't think there's anything like that back home.

[Video]

[heartdive]

Well why don't you?

[Video]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[She just sort of... shrugs helplessly.]